The Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission, an agency of the Illinois Supreme Court, has booted 587 active attorneys from the state’s “master roll,” when they failed to file paperwork showing they had met new continuing legal education requirements.
All Illinois lawyers were required to complete 20 hours of certified legal training between July 1, 2006, and June 30, 2008.
The lawyers were officially removed from the roll after being sent three reminder letters late last year.
“Any lawyer who practices law while not on the master roll engages in the unauthorized practice of law and may be held in contempt,” the commission says on its Web site.
The state’s high court adopted the new CLE rules and requirements in September 2005, and created the Minimum Continuing Legal Education Board to enforce compliance.
The two-year study requirements will rise to 24 hours in the next cycle, and eventually to 30 hours.
There were about 2,000 lawyers out of compliance as of December, but the commission made phone calls to many of the lawyers to remind them about meeting the new CLE requirement, even after the letters were sent. About 1,400 lawyers immediately came into compliance, but the remaining 587 probably include some lawyers who are still practicing while others may have moved, died or retired.